Instead, he played semi-pro ball. His uncle, Buddy Blubaum, was a former minor leaguer (and reputedly an accomplished pool hustler) who once served as a scout for the Reds and signed him to a minor league contract to begin his professional career. He left some words for his nephew. In 1960, he played second base for the Class D Geneva Redlegs, hitting .277 in 85 games.
Three years later, Rose, who had grown two inches taller and weighed nearly 40 pounds and impressed Reds manager Fred Hutchinson with his intelligence and effort, made it to the big leagues. Indomitably cocky, he refused to play the traditional rookie role of getting along, especially after he removed veteran second baseman Don Blasingame from the starting lineup and after Blasingame was traded. He was hated by most of his teammates.
Rose found a place in the clubhouse with the Reds’ black stars Frank Robinson and Bada Pinson, who showed sympathy for Rose and recognized ostracism when they saw it. This type of collaboration was unusual in baseball during the early years of the civil rights movement. Mr. Sokolove reported that Mr. Rose was under pressure from many people, including Mr. Hutchinson and Mr. Big Pete, to seek society within his race. But as Rose himself wrote in his 1970 autobiography, The Pete Rose Story, he told Reds officials: (Rose, who is also a contributor to several biographies and others, told one of his co-authors, famed sportswriter Roger Kahn, “I’ve written more terrible books than I’ve read.” )
Rose more easily won the admiration of his teammates on the field. He was the best rookie in the league, hitting .273 with 170 hits. Two years later, he was selected to the All-Star team for the first time, reached 200 hits for the first time, and had a batting average over .300. In 1968 and 1969, he won consecutive batting titles with batting averages of .335 and .348, respectively. The Reds reached the World Series in 1970 and 1972 (losing both times) and almost reached the World Series in 1973.
That year, they lost to the Mets in the best-of-five National League Championship Series, but you can’t blame Rose, who had 230 hits and batted .338 that year, winning the batting title and tying for league MVP. I don’t think he’ll go. They won Game 1 on Tom Seaver’s home run in the 8th inning (Bench hit a home run in the 9th inning), and won Game 4 on a home run in the 12th inning. He had two of the Reds’ seven hits in the Game 5 loss, giving him a .381 batting average in the series.
